Sethi at CPJ offices earlier this year. (CPJ/Sheryl A. Mendez)
Sethi at CPJ offices. (CPJ/Sheryl A. Mendez)

CPJ supports Pakistani journalists facing threats

New York, December 29, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists admires and supports the decision of Pakistani journalists Najam Sethi and Jugnu Mohsin to make public the threats that have driven them at times to live outside their country in recent months. Sethi and Mohsin are returning to their home in Lahore and are determined to continue their independent work in the media. They, like other journalists in Pakistan in recent weeks, have opted to openly confront those making the threats, which have come from both state and non-state actors.

We encourage the many other journalists we know to be under threat in Pakistan to do the same. Journalists in countries like Pakistan play a vital role–their work not only helps inform the people of Pakistan but contributes to global understanding.

CPJ is in receipt of details of the various threats to Sethi from non-state groups, state agencies and political actors and has pledged to make these public in the event of any verbal or physical attack on his family or him in the future.